The student's media products used and developed conventions of real media by analyzing various short films and genres. They produced a film poster, short film, and magazine review targeting an audience aged 15+. Research included analyzing existing works and questionnaires. Challenges included learning new software and finding actors. Feedback praised the poster design and review layout, but suggested changes to the film's color scheme and longer scenes. Overall the research and planning process improved from year one to two.

1. Critical Evaluation

2. In what way does your media product use,develeop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

3. My media products use, develop and challenge the forms and conventions of real media products. I did this by looking at a variety of short films. I compared and contrast everything I saw and took notes down. I had to produce three main media text, a film poster, short film and a double page spread magazine review . My short film mainly use conventions of real Short films. I analysed films from short film winners on youtube, and took different ideas on how my film should be and come across to the audience.on.My first original idea was to do a 1960s comedic genre film like the Charlie Chaplin era , but this wasn’t made possible based on technology and I changed it to a rom com.The first thing I had to do was to categorize and choose which genre I want to explore. I chose the “comedy” since it is a easily recognised genre. I watched several existing films and made detailed analysis and deconstructions. These analyses can be found on my blog.

4. in general I think my media product mostly uses the conventions and forms of real media products because I got most of my ideas from looking at the different forms of media available from every available source I could find. On the whole I don’t think my work I think my work greatly challenged it because the film is supposed to convey comedy and parody rather than seriousness. Following this I had to chose the target audience I was aiming at. I carried out researches into different age groups, what and how they consume a media text. My target audience [15+] are used to mainstream films such as Juno & Bounty Hunter . I tried no to focus on any social issues because I wanted the audience to come after watching my film felled with laughter. I found a variety of different short films to analyse, including ones that are educational even though not a lot exists, also ones that are entertaining. I challenged the conventions of theorist that think everything has to be spelt out to audience when consuming a film.

5. I looked at movie posters and how they are designed. I analysed their layout, colour themes and what images are used based on the genre they are suitable for. I had to create a poster, a double page spread magazine review and a film. I found the magazine relevantly easy to do but the poster harder because I didn’t have sufficient knowledge on adobe Photoshop..The magazine was particularly easy for me to develop as I have a satisfactory knowledge of using PowerPoint and Microsoft words. I looked at 6 different posters at the audience we were aiming at...I then combined and compared their visual styles and format together. The most eye catching poster I could find which related directly to the theme of our poster genre was the “ ”American History” poster. The colour theme was sharp and crisp and also the message sent through the poster is very strong , a sense of rebellious message or loyalty to some regime.

6. Working on the movie review was much difficult as it was very hard for me to find a genre specific review about an education film. Formatting the layout of the magazine page was easier to do as the image was not the most important thing and did not need much focusing on, however some of the texts had to be reconsidered. Colour themes and word warp and shape were also recalibrated so that the pages look more professional. I made use of “home” style so that the pages flow easily and they don’t look overcrowded and unprofessional. The last thing I did was the film trailer, the trailer was the hardest part of the work as it was very challenging and time consuming, the filming was easy because of the extremely detailed shot list I created at the start of the course but the hard part was getting actors to play the characters for my film and making sure that they stick to the time we have available. For the trailer the hardest part that I found was the editing as we had to create each scene from scratch. I also used two different editing software because of certain effects I wanted in the film..I used adobe premiere element 3.0 and adobe after effec.ts cs4

7. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLIARY TEXTS?

8. I designed the double page film magazine review on Microsoft word. After analysing different film magazine review I used the same formats and layout. The images depicted are from the actual film poster. This will help the audience to identify this as a “The day” review. This magazine helped me to identify different ways of constructing a review magazine. Layout and font types to use and colour themes. This review page helped me with the information that can be included in a review.. How to write and structure a film review. It was very difficult to find short film review but I had to make maximum use of the ones I was able to eventually find. my film poster and film magazine both have similar images of the main characters depicting their emotions and feelings.

9. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

10. INSERT QUESTIONNARE AND COMMENTS HERE

11. The short film was gracefully approved by my target audience. The first scene prepared them for something they weren't really expecting. The use of fast cuts and camera transitions helps to maintain the pace of the film and this was apparent in the result I got from the questionnaire I created and designed . I gave it out to different groups of people to complete . In conclusion I felt my film was generally successful in outlining the genre, characters and the narratives. My audience felt they could relate to the characters based on their comedic life and also how they are presented through the costumes they were. I attempted to input Todorovs theory of narratives in the opening scene and also randomise the narratives to show the audience various aspect of the action .

12. Most of the responses I got from the audience feed back is they would prefer a different colour scheme from the black and white and a longer scene. This means that the initial idea wasn't as captivating as intended but with the use of carefully planned out cinematography, the audience can easily interpret what they are viewing. In terms of the ancillary texts, my film poster was praised for its colour scheme, content and presentation.. From a very first glance, the poster is bright, the character is seen holding his head because his hiding his emotions and feelings from his oppression at being at work and in life. My double page film magazine review was praised for its colour scheme and its layout. It was also praised for the creativity because I produced on Microsoft word from scratch. The review helped the audience clarify what type of genre they are viewing.

13. HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

14. Research and Planning. Since I have never produced a short film before, the first thing I had to do was carry out different researches into what they are about so I can get a basic idea of what I am getting into. I mainly used Google and YouTube to find secondary sources of information to help support my ideas. This allowed me to effectively note down the generic forms and conventions, denotations and connotations of other short films and how I may incorporate or subvert from them if I chose to. My initial plan was to make a educative film about the pressure of the modern society in losing your virginity , this was at the start of the course. This is idea quickly changed into a comedy. I used Microsoft PowerPoint to make class presentations as well. Microsoft words was used to type out all my researches and analyses.

15. How has your research and planning practise impacted on your creative output In AS level my research and planning level was pretty at a very basic level. Now in A2 my research and planning level has improved vastly from AS. In AS I had no idea of how to create and write a script, how to create a story board, what my target audience wanted, what sort of costumes and props that were needed (Mise-en-scene), how to create and stick to a production schedule and I never knew how to create a really good waiver form. In As I created a storyboard. I researched how a storyboard was created. The first year I hand drew a storyboard and it was completely hand drawn. In A2 now my storyboard consists of different types of shots. The storyboard helped me to look back at the scene while I was filming; it helped me to look back while I was editing to see which scene I have edited. I used Adobe Premiere element software to edit the storyboard so it could like a cartoon magazine, and also like an anima tic storyboard.

16. The research I carried out into the audience of our film was pretty basic. I did produce and carryout a questionnaire with a view to establishing what an audience likes and expects in a comedy film. This process was helpful in helping us establish audience expectations and preferences for our chosen genre but we did not utilise the content to its full potential and I was unable to capitalise on the information I had gathered to turn it into a workable idea for our production. In A2 I carried out much more focused research on what my proposed targeted audience wanted from a short film via questionnaires and surveys. I also looked at different short film websites aimed at my targeted audience to study the language mode of address and imaginary and popular culture that may attract our targeted age group. This process was really successful and improved my a2 short film focus. I was able to address and attract our targeted audience much more confidently as we did the research I had completed in depth and appropriate. Also my understanding of audience theory and how audiences receives a text improved my ability to address an audience and hopefully transcend our preferred meaning to our targeted group.

17. I researched many different short films which related to my genre. I used textual analysis to establish forms and conventions genric conventions, and overall themes of other short films similar to our proposed project. As my analysis skills were still developing, but after completing a number of analyse of media products through out the AS year by A2 my skills were greatly improved. I was able to create and use framework of analysis focusing on the technical areas we had studied in the first year. This included the mis-en-scene, camera work, editing and sound. I had a greater knowledge of the terms and their meaning and also was able to recognise and understand the potential meanings of different techniques in other people work. This in turn greatly improved my overall analysis in A2 and also improved my ability to use the information I gained from my analysis to inform my own practise . In AS I had a very basic level of creating a waiver forms. The waiver form only consisted of the actors name and saying the will be liable for any injuries occurred while filming. In A2 my research and planning has improved because now I know what a waiver form should consist of. It should consist of the actors taking responsibility on any injuries that any damages caused while filming would come their pocket not from ours. Also ensuring that the locations has been thoroughly looked that the location is good for filming.

18. Questionnaire This is a questionnaire I carried out into the audience theory and what genre they consume in cinemas. This is the result of the of the genre consumption.

19. Costume Questionnaire This is the questionnaire I carried out into the costume worn by my targeted audience, this helped me out in deciding on the costumes wore by the characters.

20. Costume Questionnaire This is the result of the bar chart of both male and female costume research.

21. Evaluation To record my thoughts and theories to every step by step process, I created an online blogger at kevzcertifiedgansta2010media.blogspot.com. I felt this was very good because I could write my creative and planning process on the blog everyday . It took a while to get used to online blogging but I got used to it and it was quite fun .